Mysterious Object Confirmed To Be From Another Solar System – The Guardian

They are calling it “Oumuamua,” from a Hawaiian term for messenger or scout. (It was detected by a telescope in Hawaii.) It’s the first space object identified as having come from outside our solar system. The object is extremely dark and red, a color that’s the hallmark of organic (carbon-based) molecules. And its elongated cigar-shape–about the length of one of the Petronas towers in Malaysia–gives this visitor, if it were a spaceship, a kind of steampunk appearance. No hint of a golden record onboard with nifty tunes. Just a space rock, folks, albeit one that’s more exotic than usual. And there are likely many more out there. (PH)